Amazing opportunities to study objects first hand at Corinium Museum

Corinium Museum

As part of Kids in Museums Takeover Day 2017 a group of students taking part the Corinium Museum Volunteer Makers, an online volunteering platform offering challenges and opportunities for anyone with a passion or interest in museums and those taking part in the Education Developing Gloucestershire’s Employability (EDGE) project have written blogs about their experiences

Edge is a pioneering scheme that aims to improve the employability skills of young people by working with learners, employers and education providers whilst focusing on the long-term business and economic needs of Gloucestershire

My name is Daisy and I’m a 17-old Fine Art student, who has recently been taking part in a work experience EDGE placement at the Corinium Museum, Cirencester. My placement title is Creative Artist, which I found on the Corinium Volunteer Makers website. This role has involved me studying various artefacts displayed in the museum and creating art from them using a range of mediums; such as pencil studies of ‘Grave Goods’, which are items an individual would be buried with during the Neolithic period, for example a collard urn, or an antler pick.

Through my placement, I have been given amazing opportunities such as studying a 19th century human skull and creating work from it. This placement has really helped me grow as an artist and explore areas that I haven’t had the chance to whilst completing my Fine Art A-Level. It has also given me more challenging subjects, such as a spearhead and a knife blade, found at Poulton (near Cirencester) which dates from around 1300 – 1100 BC. In taking part in this placement, I feel that I have really had a chance to enhance my skills as an artist and develop direct observational drawing.

In taking over this creative artist role, I will contribute to the museum by providing the work I create for marketing purposes, for example on a poster or leaflet advertising the museum. This would benefit the museum by contributing improvements to marketing, which would help engage a younger audience of people in the work of the museum.

My placement would also assist the museum through sharing skills to help contribute towards gallery improvements. My favourite part of the placement so far was studying skull because it isn’t something people would necessarily get to do in their lifetime, so the opportunity was incredible and the skull itself was fascinating. Overall, I have been given great opportunities in taking part in my work experience placement so far, which has benefited myself in improving myself as an artist, and also benefited the museum by helping contribute to marketing and engaging different audiences.